Really, Really Foul Breath Post-glutening?

[Kyalesyin]

My wife glutened herself a few weeks back, and about two days after she did it, she developed the most foul case of halitosis. I mean, to the stage of me having to lie with my back to her [we normally sleep holding hands.]

Trying to describe the smell is hard. Part dead roadkill, part super dark chocolate, part really bitter keytones. Kind of stale alcohol smelling. Am I making any sense? It went away after about four days. I didn't think to mention it at the time, until I realised that she had it all the time before she went gluten-free, and it was always worse after a big wheat-based meal. She can't ever smell it, but other people have commented on it before.

Anyone else get this, or is this another one of those random ones?

[elye]

That does sound exactly like the smell of a person's breath when they have ketones present in their blood. I've been a tightly controlled type one diabetic for a long time, so I haven't given off that smell in ages. But fermenting wine, rotten fruit, sour milk...these were the things that I've always heard "ketone breath" described like. Your wife doesn't have blood sugar issues?

[Kyalesyin]

That does sound exactly like the smell of a person's breath when they have ketones present in their blood. I've been a tightly controlled type one diabetic for a long time, so I haven't given off that smell in ages. But fermenting wine, rotten fruit, sour milk...these were the things that I've always heard "ketone breath" described like. Your wife doesn't have blood sugar issues?

Nope, at least, I hope not. Its not quite the diabetic smell. At least, she smells nothing like my sisters and my grandparents did. They always smelled much sweeter. My chemistry proffessor suggested that its the smell of her stomach lining breaking down from the gluten damage, which is a chilling thought...

But we had all the diabetes tests while they were trying to convince us it wasn't celiac, and we eat well enough that she doesn't ever run on empty, so hopefully that isn't the case. It only ever pops up when she glutens herself, normally one to two days after. At least if it is blood sugar we'll have something in common...

[chatycady]

I have had a problem with bad breath for years, and yes, I believe it is associated with "gluten". I hope your wife is feeling better and no longer has this problem.

[Guest Chrisbee]

I noticed this a long time ago when my oldest children were small before I knew about Celiac disease. Their breath would smell like a more sweet version of finger nail polish remover to me. I asked the doctor about it one time because I was worried and he had the nerve to ask me if I left the polish remover out where they could reach it. He couldn't smell it. I never did find out what caused it, but I can always tell by the smell of their breath if they aren't feeling well.

[New Mama]

I came across this thread doing a search for "breath" because my siser, who I believe has celiac and is currently going gluten-free, has the most awful breath. It smells "infected" -- that's the only word I can think of to describe it. If she's sitting next to me, or even across the table from me, talking, I can barely stand it. I've never mentioned it to her because she is very, very sensitive/defensive about things like this, and I figured if her three teenaged kids haven't told her by now I wasn't about to!

I think she has celiac because she is hypo-thyroid, is prone to D, and has had unexplained infertility, constant migraines and a rash that no doctor has identified but looks exactly like DH. And she's feeling much better after going gluten-free for a few weeks.

I have a cold so I haven't been able to smell much lately, but it will be interesting to see if her breath improves on the diet.

[TrillumHunter]

he had the nerve to ask me if I left the polish remover out where they could reach it.

Just had to say--WHAT AN MORON!

[little d]

WOW! I have been told by my sister and mom quite a few time and my husband that my breath stinks and I can brush and you can smell my breath again within a few hours. Never thought that this was an issue of celiac disease but it makes sense, I have always battled with this issue. WoW the more I read on here the more makes sense and all the pieces are all falling into pieces.

Thanks

Donna

[geokozmo]

many times they told me in my famuily I had bad breath. Now I dont hear it that much since I am on this glutenfree diet. I wonder...

Geo

[sickchick]

I was under the impression this had to do with systemic candida, and after you get the candida under control (killing it off) your breath gets sweet and you don't have that odd body odor anymore.

Love Love

sickchick

[Shelly D.]

I came to this site to see if inhaling flour could make me feel bad- I'm new to this celiac thing but feeling better- and this topic jumped out at me. My mother, myself and my son have always had terrible breath. I had my tonsils out and that seemed to help but when my son had his out it didn't help him at all. Even the breath from his nose smells really bad. In the few days since I've been diagnosed I've seen so many symptoms in my son and this is just another confirmation to me that he has celiac disease also. I wish we'd figured this out when he was little instead of now. Do those of you that have noticed this phenomenon also notice a unique, maple-y sort of urine-y smell to body odor also?

[munkee41182]

My fiance notice my breath was pretty horrid a while ago. My primary told me to take pepcid because it was due to stress (from planning a wedding and buying a new home). But now that i've been gluten free again, he did say that it was getting better.

[Oli]

Well now, I find this very interesting. Somehow I got gluten in my diet ( have been gluten free for 10 years)I was visiting my son, and he told me I had cronic bad breath. I went to the store and got a toung scraper and that helped. However when I got home from my visit I really put my diet in check and I havent had a problem since that I know of. I am interested in the candida...If you have read Dr. Crooks book The Yeast Connection you will find that it is very possibly true about the breath. Yeast is a problem that should be looked at. This is an excellant book for those who work with Autism too as Autistics have a hard time throwing off toxins in the body.

Oli

[purple]

My sister deals with bad breath very often. I think she might be allergic to gluten, it doesn't run in the family. She got Candida 17 years ago when she was pregnant. It only bothers her a little every few years. I say all that to say this weird experience she had a few months back.

She was talking to a neighbor and there were flying insects all around her face but not the neighbors. She asked if it could be a symptom...sounds like it. Weird and embarassing!

[CeliacAlli]

My breath has stunk when I was glutened but it was from puking. Not really sure but the it might happen to some people and the diabetic thing is def. something you guys should look into.

[BocaKayakerDave]

I had bad breath, gas, and bloating my entire life. I was recently diagnosed with celiac disease through a biopsy done via endoscopy. My friends described my breath as "warm garbage". I have been gluten free for a little over a month now and only had a bad breath comment once about 10 hours after eating a raw clove of garlic. The gas and bloating are still there, but I think that is because I eat too fast.

Back in the day, I took PrevPac (a triple therapy anti-biotic typically used to treat H. Pylori) which cured my bad breath. If you suffer from really bad breath that you think may be GI related, then I'd definitely recommend the PrevPak treatment first, and if that doesnt work then try the gluten-free diet...

Hope that helps,

-Dave

keywords: celiac disease, gluten-free, halitosis, bad breath, foul breath, helicobacter pylori, h pylori, h. pylori, gas, bloating, smelly breath

[anonymical7]

Adding to the chorus, I recently discovered I had celiac disease, my poor wife was putting up with my breath for years, but since i removed gluten its relatively gone. I also thought it was stress related, but no matter what I did to help I had no relief. Sort of fermented dead mouse smell....pretty bad.

[ButterflyCeliac]

Understand this is a very old topic but as a gluten-free newbie just started the gluten-free diet literally two days ago.

When noticed bad breath voila - disappeared without effort!

gluten-free diet only change so in my curiosity searched this topic online and found this thread. Personally have had chronically bad breath my entire life not related to dental health as confirmed by my dentist but have apparently had undiagnosed Celiac for at least 14 years maybe even earlier so there is a connection somehow.

Just so happened to eat garlic within the last two days so that was the only time my breath smelled. It was clearly a garlic smell not the normal sweet rotting meat smell as previously mentioned before by someone else.

Thankful found out about celiac disease as somebody just switched the light bulb on clearly illuminating answers to all my health problems that I've suffered with for years!

[weluvgators]

One of my children has the really, really bad breath following gluten exposure. It is one of the ways that I monitor how we are doing with our diet. It is a distinct odor, for sure, and I would love to better understand exactly what that odor is. In the meantime, when I smell that dank breath, I know that we better review what she ate the day before. I find the odor most noticeable upon her waking. There is definitely a different "morning breath" for her if she has had gluten exposure. I have wondered if it was related to post nasal drip issues or something . . . but I haven't figured it out yet! But, in my experience, it can be a great way to help monitor dietary issues for our loved ones!

I haven't asked my husband if I have the issue . . . I don't know if I would want to know for myself.

[mommida]

This is an old post... It was before my daughter was diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitus. Her breath smelled really bad. She would also have speckled tonsils that looked like strep.

Gluten can be a trigger for eosinophils.

[Krystyn41]

Yes, I've had breath issues for years. Very embarrassing! This morning I woke up with dank breath and I knew I ate something with gluten in it. Years ago when talking with me people would take a step back. Now, not so much. sometimes I think that dead smell is cancer within my gut..rotting away. Of course, I hope not but I spent too many years not knowing what is wrong with me. I think the damage has already been done.

[kayo]

I've struggled with this too but since going gluten-free it has gone away. So has much of my snoring

Gluten can be a trigger for eosinophils.

I'd love to know more! Do you have a link or resource? My blood work keeps showing elevated eosinophils so my docs ordered an endoscopy and colonoscopy, neither of which I'm looking forward to. Though I'll be happy to have some answers.

[crimsonviolet]

My son always had the most horrible breath, primarily first thing in the morning (or if I got a whiff while he was sleeping.) After we took him off gluten, his breath became very pleasant. One way I can tell for sure he's been glutened is his breath gets awful again. To me it smells like stale poo.

I figured it had to do with inflammation in his gut giving off gases, and also the bad bacteria proliferating in his mouth (we came to gluten-free because of his tooth decay.)

[Ginsou]

My husband has had foul breath for years, and it is not a dental problem. I do not have diabetes, but I know the odor of a diabetic, and this is not the same as a diabetic.....it is a very foul, rotting corpse type odor...it comes and goes, and interestingly enough, his adult son has the same problem. One product that seems to help immensely, is a product called Thera-Breath, by Dr. Harold Katz. I think it is available at Walgreens and Walmart...or at least one of those stores.It has helped immensely.I'm sure the odor is food related, or gut bacteria related, because he used to have the problem for days, even a week, and then it would disappear. It was so bad I hesitated to marry him, and had to tell him of the problem.

[BocaKayakerDave]

In addition to eating gluten-free, I attribute the following to knocking out my bad breath once and for all:

1. SmartMouth Activated Mouthwash (this is what really did it for me!)

2. Flonase Nasal Spray

3. Dr. Tung's Tongue Scraper

4. The obviously brushing and flossing twice daily (goes without saying).